Dealing with the illegitimate methods of promotion enumerated in the closing paragraphs of the chapter, describe some thoroughly practical method of handling each situation without making the mistake indicated.
Holmes, W. H. School Organization and the Individual Child. The Davis Press, Worcester, Massachusetts. Contains a list of references on the subject.
[CHAPTER VIII]
THE TRADITIONAL CURRICULUM AND ITS REORGANIZATION
Importance of a Study of the Curriculum
The last chapter failed of its purpose if it did not concentrate the attention of the reader on the school curriculum. The organized body of materials of instruction constitutes one of the most important factors which enter into the life of the school system. Along with the board of education, with the grading system, and with the staff of teachers and supervisory officers stands the curriculum as a kind of dominating personality always exercising a leading influence in the determination of every educational policy. It will be the business of this chapter to open the discussion of the curriculum by commenting on the history of courses of study and by pointing out some of the changes which recent years have wrought.
The Specialized Curriculum of Higher Schools
If one goes back to the beginnings of any school system, it will always be found that the original courses of study grow directly out of the intellectual ideals of the times. For example, if one goes back to the beginnings of medieval universities, he finds that these institutions grew up because there was an interest in certain well-defined bodies of ideas. At Bologna one Irnerius had made himself acquainted with the laws of the northern Italian cities, and students came from all Europe to hear him expound these laws. The course of study was directly related to a specific demand.
A professional theological curriculum was organized at the time of the founding of the early American universities. Harvard was at first a school for the training of clergymen. At that time there was no demand for lawyers trained in the New World. The law came from England, and from the same source came the lawyers. Medicine had hardly developed into a profession. Preaching and listening to sermons were, on the other hand, among the most absorbing occupations of the colonists, and Harvard was established to provide those who could preach. The courses of study were arranged according to the traditions of the single profession towards which the graduates were aiming.